Gender Transformations: Why Can’t I Be You?
One of the things that happens on Google Plus once in a while, at least among my circles, is something called “TMI Tuesday” where people start threads (usually to small circles rather than publicly) where they offer themselves up their circlemates to ask any question they like. The one I like to ask in this situation is “Your lover can transform you in any way-change body parts, add them, subtract them, change sizes, whatever. What would be the sexiest thing your lover could do to transform you?” The answer I get from women, more often than any other, is “It would be great to know what it’s like to have a penis.” Likewise, men are often curious about what it’s like to have a vulva and breasts.
I’m pretty sure this curiosity has its roots in childhood, from the time when we first learn that girls and boys are put together somewhat differently; we want to know what that is. Even after we’re grown, and we get to see what organs other folks have, we’re still curious about what they feel like. So it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of fiction that goes into this realm.
This is one of the forms of transformation which is acceptable to explore outside of erotic fiction. There’s no point in listing them; I’m sure you can think of a dozen examples if you think about it. I break down these stories into three categories: Gender-Switch, Gender-Swap, and Gender-Fuckery.
Gender-Switch is when one character changes gender, and finds out “how the other half lives.” Sometimes it’s by choice, sometimes it’s imposed from outside, but very often the idea behind this kind of story is for the main character to learn something. Often there are themes of gender stereotyping involved, both in positive and negative aspects. Sometimes the author presents a gender’s sexuality as universal; women experience sex this way and men that way without really acknowledging the wide variations that can happen. That being said, it’s easy to assume a portrayal of one perspective is a broader statement, whether that’s intended or not.
I included a bit of this concept in Scouts. I described practices at the Scout academy where students who are having a hard time learning about the opposite gender’s sexual functioning are transformed in order to give them a first-hand experience of it. This topic gets a social rather than sexual treatment in Paulette Jaxton’s novel, “The Empress Sword” where a young man finds a magic sword that can save his people—but it can only be wielded by a woman. I’ll be presenting a story along these lines later in October.
By “Gender-Swap” on the other hand, I refer to a situation where a heterosexual couple swap genders, possibly swapping bodies at the same time. Sometimes it’s a learning situation, as in Gender-Switch, and sometimes it’s for fun, and sometimes it’s a play on the old fable where a married couple switch jobs for the day. I haven’t written one of these per se, though perhaps I should, just for completeness.
And then there’s “Gender-Fuckery” which transcends the gender binary. This is the realm of Buck Angel, Futanari, and any other forms where we’re fucking around with the whole idea of gender in the first place. I classify the “Wager” and “Long Shot” stories as Gender-Fuckery because they play around with the contrast between ‘male’ and ‘masculine.’ On the other hand, “Black Paint” does its gender-fuckery in a more direct fashion, while attempting a hint of subtle allegory between the masculine and the monstrous.
What are your favorite gender-transformation stories?
